Small female terracotta figurine, cylindrical in shape, with hint of face and breasts. The female statuette is the only anthropomorphic find found on site, and seems to attest to the presence of female cults on site.

Historical notes

The attendance of the Isolino Virginia, with the development of the so-called "Isolino Group", dates back to a period of time between 5300 and 4500 BC, following the conclusion of the lake flooding recorded at transalpine level and the withdrawal of the waters, which freed large fertile spaces rich in vegetation along the shores of Lake Varese. The site that stands on Isolino Virginia is of the pile-dwelling type and is the oldest in the Alpine arc. It will be inhabited continuously for 4000 years, from the Ancient Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age (about 900 BC).

The elements that characterize the Isolino Group are represented by “fruit bowl vases with high feet, large jars, vases with an S profile; the incision and impression decoration is also characteristic, with cords decorated with impression, decoration with ladders and triangles”. (Quote collected by the exhibitors of the Civic Museums of Villa Mirabello).

It is curious to know that the original name of the small island was "Isola di San Biagio", due to the presence of a small church dedicated to the saint which was the destination of the processions carried out by the Schiranna. Later, in the early eighteenth century, it was inhabited by Innocente Besozzi, who called the island "Camilla" in honor of his wife.

Finally, from 1878 it was renamed "Virginia" as a tribute to the wife of the Marquis Andrea Ponti. In 1962 the Isolino was sold to the Municipality of Varese by the Marquis Gianfelice Ponti, who also gave his name to the small museum – Museo Ponti – which stands on its banks, and since 2011 it has been part of the UNESCO serial site “Prehistoric pile-dwelling sites in the Alpine arc ”. Among these is the one that returned the oldest dates.